Faith- 11/29/18

Faith- 11/29/18

 “The Miracle, Not the Magic, of Christmas!”

By Pastor Ron Buxton

   It really isn’t the “magic” of Christmas that we celebrate this time of year. What occurred in Bethlehem over twenty centuries ago was actually a supernatural miracle! C. S. Lewis refers to it as the “Grand Miracle”, and that “Christianity is precisely the one religion from which the miraculous cannot be separated”. Allow me to share another story of a miracle that occurred on Christmas Eve several years ago.

   I spent many years working at orphanages in Mexico. God tells us that He is “the Father of the fatherless” in Psalm 68:5, so what I am about to testify about makes sense when you realize that. You see, every week we had special times of prayer with the children. We taught three basic principles about prayer:  #1 We are talking to God. He is the source of all our needs.  #2 Whatever He chooses to give us, we are to be thankful.  #3 Whatever He chooses to give us, we are to share something from that with others. We are not to be selfish. Real simple, right?

   Well, the children usually shared prayer requests regarding family members. We prayed for parents that might have been incarcerated, uncles that were drug addicts, and their brothers and sisters that were still living on the streets. That was what we usually prayed for. That is—until one November.

   I don’t remember which kid spoke up, but the request brought some laughs from both the staff and the other children. The request was for a Christmas turkey dinner. The small child explained herself. For the wealthier, Mexican families, a special turkey dinner was very traditional. And so, feeling “rich” with her new “family” at the orphanage prompted that unusual prayer request.   Amazingly, that child asked for 3 turkeys. To her reasoning, we could eat two large turkeys ourselves, and then share the third one with an underprivileged family. My eyes moistened with tears as I heard that. And so, our laughter turned to passionate prayer, as turkeys were added to our weekly prayer list. 

   Everything that Christ told us in the Bible is important. When He told us to have “child-like” faith, it wasn’t for nothing! And what I’m about to tell you has a further twist. Sadly, many of our kids had violent and abusive backgrounds. As a result, our location was not public knowledge for security reasons. And so, nobody but God knew about that unusual prayer.

   Are you ready for this? On Christmas Eve, vehicles began arriving at our secluded orphanage. Many vehicles. These were folks that we didn’t even know. All arrived with the same thing: turkeys! In all—46 turkeys arrived!

   Please don’t forget this true Christmas story. I lived it. You see, the Incarnation tells us that God didn’t give up on a fallen, sin-sick world. That same God who answered an orphan’s prayer wants you to receive much more than turkeys. Merry Christmas!

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